GABF Day #3: Festival Time--Our Look at The Great American Beer Festival

So, Saturday marked Day 3 of our Great American Beer Festival trip and also the day we had tickets to the event.

And when they tell you it's the "World's Largest Beer Festival" and that you'll see some crazy stuff, well, whomever "they" are was understating.

It's a long day too.

We started by going down to LoDo and settling in near the Denver Convention Center early. The gates were not scheduled to open until 5:30pm, we got downtown around noon. Which left a ton of time to wander and explore.

Probably too much time.

But we killed the clock with a good lunch at a local pizza spot and some coffee at Starbucks along with a couple of trips up and down the 16th Street Mall.

And around 5pm, we made our way to the Convention Hall. Along with, oh, say 20,000 or so of our fellow beer fanatics. I don't know what the actual attendance for the event was, but the 20,000 may be on the low side.


**NOTE**--We took a ton of photos, I will have to figure out the best way to produce a photo gallery. I'll put as many as I can in this post.

Let me add at this point the organizers of this festival have crowd control down to a science. We waited for a few minutes to get in, but considering the amount of people being herded in, it was a bit tight, but not long at all. It moved assembly line--ID check, bracelet, upstairs to get your glass and boom...you're staring at more beers than you can ever possibly imagine in one place.

Think Home Show or something like that on a oh, 4 times larger scale size wise. And then compound that with 20,000 or so beer fanatics. Or a better example might be a fan festival attached to a major football game.

The people watching was amazing. Never in our lives have we seen so many people wearing pretzels. Or dressed up in some sort of bizarre costume even though Halloween was 30 days away.

The photos barely encapsulate what we saw. There were people with beer can necklaces, wearing beer mug hats, dressed like Disco Fever or in some cases some sort of exctasy related get-up.

The pretzel necklaces were indeed impressive. Some had the mini-twists, some had soft pretzels. All looked ready to be eaten and we suspect by the end of the evening, most of them were.

And yes, a lot of them were drunk. Though we aren't sure how since the event featured 1 oz pours and the Brewers were pretty consistent with it.

But the star of the night...and the week is the beer.

And there is beer everywhere. 3000+ different beers from over 700 different breweries.

The styles weren't incredibly different, there are only so many way to produce a beer, but the spins are what made the best stand out.

We tried very hard to stay away from the "Big Name" brewers. The lines for Stone Brewing, Great Divide, Left Hand and others were almost back out the door.

No, we tried to hit the little guys. Visit the breweries we'd never get to experience at home. And sometimes it meant going to a brewery that didn't have a long, crowded line.

But that was okay. For us, the fun in traveling or going to places we've never been is to experience things we don't get at home.

For me, there were a couple of favorites. Obviously, I lean towards the Porters and Stouts and this event was no different.

I loved the Peppermint Stout from BJ's Brewery (yes, I know, mass retailer). But man it was good. Tasted like a York Peppermint Patty.

I also enjoyed my first Cigar City Beer. (yes, I know, from Florida) For some reason there beer isn't available in Georgia (that we're aware of). I had a Maduro Brown Ale. Which was nutty, roasty, goodness in a glass.

My 3rd favorite--the Award Winning Smoked Alaskan Porter from Alaska Brewing. I had heard from my friend Chad Clark who used to live there how good the beers were. And boy was he right.

For Chelle it was a Louisiana Beer (natch) from Bayou Teche. A Honey-Oak based Ale called Miel Sauvage, which I tried as well. And, yeah it was pretty tasty.

She also fell in love with the Gose beers. And she had a bunch of them. For those of you unfamiliar with the style, a Gose is a slightly sour/salty version of a beer. It is somewhat similar to a Farmhouse Ale with more bite to it.

I tried a few of those as well, and yeah, though a contrast to my first love the Porters, the Gose's were pretty darn tasty.

All in all, this was easily an event to scratch off our bucket lists. We are very sure we will never experience a festival on this scale ever again.

The festival was the focus of our trip but the culture in Colorado was the reason we came. You could say that GABF 2014 was the Apex or highlight of our trip and arguably it was. But the beer culture itself is the star in Colorado.

Everywhere we went, there were Craft Beers or fans. The culture is open, friendly and very, very inclusive. We met some awesome folks at the breweries in Fort Collins and the Brew Pubs in Denver and our last day trip in Boulder as well.

If you love great beer and have never been out here before, you owe it to yourself to make the pilgrimage. Everywhere you turn there's a brewery or brew pub or restaurant with fresh to table food.

Having and experiencing the festival on top of the trip made this quite possibly one of the best trips Michelle and I ever have or ever will take.

We WILL be back....

Cheers!

GABF Week Day #2: Beer Daytrip--Fort Collins, Colorado

While there is so much to do in Denver, particularly on Great American Beer Festival week, we decided that it would be fun to do a little exploring. In part because we've never really spent much time in Colorado.

With that in mind, we decided to spend our Friday about an hour north of Denver in the sleepy little college town of Fort Collins. Which we should add is quite the beer town in its own right.

**NOTE**---Rather than review each place individually, we're going to combine things here.

We started our adventure at the most fitting place we could think of...New Belgium Brewing.

NEW BELGIUM:

The biking crew at New Belgium has a gorgeous, wood toned, busy building just east of downtown Fort Collins.

And they have an amazing collection of beers on tap. We should note, as much as we would have loved to take the 90-minute tour, we weren't able to get a reservation.

Beers: (Favorites)

Phil--Salted Chocolate Stout (Lips of Faith). Of course I loved this. Right in my wheelhouse. Had a 1554 Black Lager as well, don't know why I never had one before.

Chelle--Tour de Fall. A nice, seasonal, Octoberfest style beer. Easy to drink.

**NOTE**--We also tried a one off run called NBB loves Loveland. It was a sour with lots of fruit notes. Did not taste like a beer, but boy was it good.

Thoughts: A local hangout place. Many of their beers are available everywhere, but the brewery specific beers are amazing. You must come here if you are in town.

The tour from what we are told is worth the 90 minutes, but plan ahead, you have to get reservations in advance. It books very, very quickly.

FORT COLLINS BREWING:

This is a modern, beautiful, art-deco looking building that houses a great brewery and a really, really good brew pub/restaurant. (We had lunch here at Gravity 1020 and it was fantastic)

Beers: (We did Tasting Flights)

Phil--Yes, I loved the Chocolate Stout, because I almost always love those beers. This was a really good one. A little stronger than most, but that's not a bad thing. Their new 1020 Pale Ale was pretty good too.

Chelle: Rocky Mountain IPA. Much like me with the Stouts, Chelle loves her IPA's and this one was very good. Lots of fruit and earthy notes, very well done. The Red Banshee Amber was right up her alley as well.

Thoughts: If you come here, get a tasting flight and some food. The beers are very good, the restaurant is even better. I had a Cuban style sandwich on Ciabatta bread that featured house made pickles. Chelle had a flatbread that featured some fresh goat cheese. Really good stuff. Another worthy stop.

ODELL BREWING:

The last stop on our Fort Collins tour. We weren't familiar with their beers because we're pretty sure they aren't available in Georgia. Which is unfortunate because they do some great beers.

Again, we did tasting flights here, which we recommend because you can try a little bit of everything in the house. Well, okay, not everything, they had some 16 beers on tap.

Beers: (2 Different Tasting Flights)

Phil: Their Dopplebock was really good. I can't remember the name of it unfortunately, but it was deep, well rounded and very tasty. Gramps Oatmeal Stout was also very, very good.

Chelle: She also loved the Dopplebock. It may have been a brewery only beer. But man, it was a good one. She also like the Levity Amber Ale. It was a slightly bitter, hoppy classic Amber Ale.

Thoughts: Another obvious local hangout. The building is beautiful and just a couple of blocks from Fort Collins Brewing. They don't have a restaurant, but have food trucks on site daily. The patio/courtyard area is huge and can hold a ton of people, the inside also has quite a few bar seats.

Again, a worthy stop for anyone trying to get the best of the best.


OUR THOUGHTS ON THE DAYTRIP:

This was a lot better than we expected, a straight drive up Interstate 25 North and just a couple miles off the highway, Ft. Collins is a small but cool town. It's very obviously a laid back culture and vibe with several good breweries and pubs. Enough so that we couldn't hit them all.

If you are in Denver for a few days and want a great beer stop, this would definitely be a worthwhile trip.

GABF Week Day 1: Breckenridge Colorado Craft: Great Beer and Good Food

We promise we aren't going to rave and gush like slobbering children over every place we go to this week.

Really, we do. We will be honest.

Our last stop on Day #1 of our Great American Beer Festival adventure in Denver was the Breckenridge Brew Pub in the shadow of Coors Field on Blake Street in LoDo.

Atmosphere: Very typical brew pub. When we were there, the bar was crowded and that is indeed where we parked ourselves. The restaurant had a few folks there and there was a party in the back room. It was a surprisingly low-key sedate place.

The Food: Food was good, not great. Very typical bar fare. I had a pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. They were nothing outstanding.

Chelle had Chicken Wings with Mango Habenero sauce on them. These were pretty good. Roasted, nice size wings and the sauce was tasty. Nice, subtle zing.

We also split some pretzel knots to start. They were doughy, but nothing to write home about. Though the mustard, made from their 471 IPA was really, really good.

Beer:

Phil--I had to start with the Nitro Vanilla Porter, it's always been one of my favorites. This was as good as I expected and very fresh.

I also had a Mango Mosiac Ale (limited release) which was really tasty. Tasted a bit like unsweetened Mango Tea, which I really like. Had a nice smoky finish.

Chelle: Loved her choices. Started with a Black Bottle Mexican Hipster. An IPA aged in tequila. Which if you know her, you know why she loved it.

She finished with a Lonetree Brewing Peach Pale Ale which tasted exactly like you think it would. A solid session beer with a nice, but not overpowering peach flavor attached.

Our Thoughts:

Come here for the beer. It's very good and was a great way to wrap up our first day here. Go to the bar and get a tasting flight or work your way down the list but stay local. There are some awesome limited run beers here that you may not find in other places nearby.

The food however, well, eat if you are hungry, if not there are better places out there. The food wasn't bad, just generic and with so many "Farm to Table" restaurants/pubs in the area, you can do better than eating here.

We could easily see this place packed before a Rockies game in the summertime. But when we were here, the Rocks were as usual, long since eliminated from the baseball season. Still having this view out your window from a bar seat ain't bad if you into your baseball.

Overall: Come thirsty, leave hungry.

Cheers!

GABF Week Day 1: Great Divide Brewing: Busy For a Reason

First off, let us say there is no way to hit every brewery or beer pub in the Metro Denver area in a short period of time.

Too many choices and eventually you'll get beered out.

But you'll end up mighty happy in the process.

The 1st Brewery we hit on our 1st full day in town: Great Divide Brewing.

Location: Araphaoe Street in Denver. In LoDo, a few blocks from Coors Field.

Atmosphere: Somewhat of a hipster vibe. The bar/tasting room is small and at happy hour can get crowded. There are a handful of seats and bar space in the narrow tap room.

Beers: You can get a full pour 12/16oz or "Tasting Samples" which are 3 oz. We suggest you get the tasting samples so you can try as many beers as you can, they have a lot on tap, some stuff not available outside Colorado.

Some of our Favorites:

Phil--Oak Aged Imperial Yeti. A barrel aged Imperial Stout. Nice. The bourbon taste compliments the chocolate/espresso notes in the beer very well. Easily one of my all time favorites.

Phil-- Colette: Very tasty Farmhouse Ale. Slightly sour notes complimented by the herbal aroma. Not a heavy or high gravity beer, very session able.

Chelle--Lasso IPA: A simple, smooth IPA with Columbus, Centennial and Cascade hops. Very herbal with some slight citrus notes. Even Phil liked it and he's not an IPA guy.

Chelle--Hoss Rye Lager: Nice. A German style Marzen beer that pours copperish in color and tastes very fruit-flavored with Cherry notes prominent.

Our Thoughts: 16 Different beers on tap. Nice. And we are pretty sure they are all good. Somewhat similar in structure to some of our home state of Georgia's breweries only with a full on-for profit taproom.

If you find yourself in Denver, this brewery without question should be on your shortlist. It's one of the best we've been to.

GABF Week: Day 1 You Must Come Here: Freshcraft

Hey everyone, sorry for the long time between posts. Consider it us preparing ourselves for the journey we currently are on. A week in Denver, Colorado, a mecca of craft beer if you will. And the trip just happens to coincide with the Great American Beer Festival, which we will be attending on Saturday.

But in the meantime there are brew pubs and breweries galore to explore. Which is exactly what we are doing.

With that in mind, we began our adventure at one of the best places we possibly could. We got up in the morning and made a beeline for LoDo.

After walking around for a bit, it was time for lunch. So of course we decided to find a brewpub. And yeah, there are a lot of them here.

But our motto is "Go Big or Go Home", so we started with one of America's best, Freshcraft.

Freshcraft sits right in the heart of the action on Blake Street, just a few blocks south of Coors Field, home of the Rockies.

And much like it's name, not only is the beer fresh, so is the food.

Atmosphere: Beer Geek heaven. It looks, feels, smells and sounds like a bar/pub when you walk in. It's not a huge place, it fills up fast. If you have to wait to get in, trust us. It's worth it.

Beer Selection: 20 Rotating Taps. And not just your run-of-the-mill standard popular craft beer selections. The taps lean Colorado, but a lot of the beers are one-offs, stuff you won't find outside the state.

And...they keep about 130 or so different bottles, some fresh, some cellar aged, some very rare beers mixed in.

For me, I had 2 drafts. My favorite: Lilikoi Kepolo from Avery Brewing. An amazing wit beer that I'm quite sure I'd never find back home.

As for Chelle--she had a Pomme Baril from Epic Brewing, a good smooth Pils.

Food: One Word: Fantastic! We started out with a Fried Pickle Appetizer that was one of the best we've ever had. The pickle chips were all house made. Some were sweet, some garlic and some dill. Great variety. Plus it had some hot peppers tucked in there. The aioli on the side was a great compliment.

For lunch, I went with the B.A.R Rueben sandwich on Marble Rye. Again, great stuff. The corned beef was not thin sliced, it was more chunky, but really good. A great mix with the kraut and dressing too. But the highlight was the cole slaw side that was vinegar based mixed with barbecue sauce.

Chelle had a burger that was pure, fresh, beefy goodness. Perfectly cooked, it tasted a lot like what a chef would do on your grill at home. Again, the highlight of her meal: the side dish--Spud puppies. Think Hush Puppies made with mashed potatoes. Wow!

Our Thoughts: If you are a beer nerd, you need to come to this place. No question about it. It should be on your to do list here. The beers are the best of the best and the food is bar food done perfectly.

We totally get why this place is on every list of great Brew Pubs in America. Come hungry and go early. We got there around 11:30 a.m and were seated fairly fast, as the clock struck noon, it filled up with thirsty Great American Beer Fest participants and fans really, really fast.

Either way, it's well worth the wait.

This song has been stuck in my head all week--enjoy it while reading our review: